EPISODE EIGHT
Elvis knows he's had a bad day, he checked the time, 2:00pm, his bad day is not ending anytime soon. Going to his office is not an option with a perky secretary on his neck, he decided to go after the IG, if he could make him rescind his decision. He badly want the bomb case, not some greedy pot bellied criminal with a flowing agbada. He's not sure this bombing has anything to do with the BTU hall bombing/ collapse, but all bombing cases intrigues him. He has a sense of obligation for bringing bomb criminals to justice.
"Sir, I want to be part of the bomb investigation crew" he said curtly on entering Esiogu's office
Esiogu looked up, stood to his feet and walked round his desk, now beside him, he offered Elvis his chair with a open palm pointing to his chair. Elvis dropped his head in embarrassment.
"Young man, you don't make orders around here, I do, you are a fresh graduate, holding a doctorate degree in criminology, more well-learned than I am, my chair is yours for the taking with your level of knowledge, do you know why I'm still sitting on it? Experience, something you still lack." he poured out mildly, now sitted on the desk facing Elvis, who's head is still bent.
"You are precocious I know, but you still lacked the experience, something you need to acquire, it can't be taught. I can't put an inexperienced young school leaver in a very precarious and delicate case with many lives at stake. You have the drive, but you have to keep your head down, show me what you can do with the politician's case and I'll see what I can do about that." he said with his usual tone of finality.
Elvis turned and headed for the door, he has just been fed the truth, his anger and vendetta against the unknown bomber of the BTU hall has clouded his judgement.
He called his team members for a meeting, about the case at hand. After much delibration on how to go about it, they decided that someone will have to infiltrate and gather informations from the inside. Elvis volunteered to be the infiltrator. The location to be infiltrated is the shipping firm owned by Honourable Titus. He disguises as a businessman but that's not enough for the ludicruos amount he's worth, so the firm will be a good place to uncover his corruption trend. He’ll get to work tomorrow.
After the meeting, the first good thing to happen that day, he headed for his office, flashes of anger are still in him, he avoided Ellie and stormed into his office. He intended to freshen up before going home.
He went straight into his restroom to freshen up. He turned the tap on and washed his face. His sight went woozy, objects multiplied before him, his brows tightened and he felt himself going numb. He passed out.
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He doesn’t know how long he’s been out, he felt a uniform gush of wind get to him at equal quick intervals, he opened his eyes slightly and blinked severally as his eyes get accustomed to the bright light, he managed to focus and saw his secretary bending beside him, hers eyes blood-shot, her make-up is a mess, her hands jointly fanning him with a colourful handfan. Fear and sweat play around on her face, her efficacious smile is absent replaced by a forlorn brow, abject indecision and despair is evident on her face.
She hugged him tightly when she saw he’s awake, her eyes heavy with tears, he felt loved.
“I came to apologize for this morning when I met an empty office; I called out to you but heard no reply. I saw you enter your office so I know you must be around somewhere, but your silence scared me so I ventured into the your restroom, you could have imagined my shock when I saw you lying unconscious on the floor” she poured out
“Please, hope you didn’t tell anybody” he managed to say with a fear-filled voice
“I didn’t tell anybody, hence my apprehension, I know what is at loss if they should know about this, you would lose your job and your career will go down the drain, I’ve been beside you for close to thirty minutes at loss of what to do, I’m about to give up and go and call the Inspector general if just to save your life when you opened your eyes” she poured out again, the tears forming on her face have dried up. She jumped to her feet to get him a cup of water, she offered it to him and helped him to a sitting position.
“Thank you” he said slightly embarrassed after some mouthfuls of water
She sat opposite him obviously demanding an explanation with her eyebrows and her reluctance to leave. He had not much choice than to tell her everything; she could have called the whole department on him when she saw him unconscious but she didn’t for reasons best known to her. She might also be the most unlady-like lady he had ever met, and kind of cavalier too, also perky but he felt a kind open heart in her.
“It started sometimes after the BTU event; I suddenly discovered that I’ll get woozy and get knocked out, waking up after some times lingering from a few minutes to at times an hour. After my realization of this, I felt wounded emotionally, that spurred me on to find the bomber of the hall. I applied for admission in some crime institutions in Nigeria but got rejected after my medicals, I was not dimmed fit to handle the job, I’ve given up hope of being a detective when by sheer luck a friend of a relative of ours is the HOD of the medical department of a crime institution in USA, the doctor kind of owed our relative and my relative used that as a leverage against him for me to get admission and a clear medical report for admission into the institution, I didn’t fail any subsequent medical all through my academic pursue over there right to my doctorate degree. Please, I'm begging you not to tell anybody about this, I've not told anybody this before, let it be our little secret” he said dejectedly before draining the cup with him
“There’s no need for anyone to know about this, it’s our little secret” she said with a childish wink.
They sat on the floor of the restroom, two beings left in the world, they chatted easily jumping from topics to personal matters. Elvis felt so free and warm, the boss-secretary form of interaction went out of the window, replaced by a colloquial version. They discussed varieties of matters, Elvis opened up easily to her with his past, he told her how changed he has become from the BTU incident. He had dreamt of being a civil engineer, but the plan was truncated and grafted vegetatively to him being a detective, he told her about his night mares, he’s been having them incessantly for the past few weeks and it gets scarier with each passing day.
“I'm no psychologist but I think you try too hard on yourself, the BTU bombing is gone, the lives lost there are not your fault, you are a hero for saving thousands of other lives that day, you are bent on catching the bomber and that is affecting everything about you, you hardly smile, you don’t sleep well and peradventure you sleep, it will be flavoured and garnished by nightmares of the bombing, the BTU case is closed and dusted, it has strong hands behind I, please just let it go, if you will catch the bomber, you will in due course, don’t try too hard, it will flow to you in due course” she replied with undiluted sincerity and care.
“Wait, you said BTU bombing not BTU collapse, how do you know it’s a bombing” he asked, with new found vigour
“You don’t know me, do you?, I overheard you talking to the IG about the BTU bombing the first day you came, I later discovered that I owe you my life” she replied
“Owe me your life?” he asked, now at loss
“You saved my life, I was lucky to run out of the hall when you barged into the hall breathlessly, talking about the bomb, I was fortunate to be part of the few that escaped” she admitted
Elvis was stunned, he took a deep breath, he felt calmness he had never felt, the wry ominous cloud overshadowing him disappeared, to some people he’s a hero, and life’s not so bad after all
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“You know boy, I've thought about it and I've decided to give you part of the experience you seek, on Saturday, your team will be with us at the TBS, you can leave Saturday out from your politician case can't you?” Esiogu barked after him with a obvious faked menacing look, he caught up with Elvis as Elvis is about to leave the office.
That’s the best news he’s heard that day, but that news is followed by the most needless question of all time, he nodded vigorously like a kid in response to the ‘needless question’, smiling sheepishly
“Don’t be so elated yet, you are just part of the team,
I give the order here” Esiogu said patting his shoulder and breaking into a boisterous and elaborate smile
Elvis can't find his voice; he kept on smiling like a lottery winner in one of the casinos in Vegas.
“Now have a good night son” Esiogu finished with a broad smile.
Elvis walked to the lift and exited the office. His day is not bad after all. His sheepish smile did not leave his face all through his journey home.
Tomorrow he has an infiltration to start.
